Blue Ox got the best of me

While I am very content with the handling of my 3100 with suspension upgrades that include front and rear Helwig sway bars, Bilstiens, and a Steer Safe I thought why not go the whole way so I orderd a Blue Ox Tiger Trac bar.  I consider myself fairly "handy" and have installed all the above mentioned myself with no problems at all.  I read the Tiger Trac instructions several times and laid everything out before starting the job.  I was 1 hour in to the process and all was going fine until I went to install the large frame bracket that mounts on the drivers side.  I just could not get that bracket to where it needed to go, there are three wiring harnesses that are dead in the way and there is no slack what so ever to move them else where, there are fuel lines and there is some ABS "stuff" that is all so in the way.  After a fair amount of time I just gave up and removed everything i had installed up to that point. I just can not see how that large bracket will fit into that small area withour significant risk of damging over time the wiring harnesses that feed the entire rear of the coach.  has anyone else run into this problem on a 2012 E-450. In conclusion,  I do not see this particular installation at a DIY project, the space tolerances are just way to tight in my mind.   Thanks

I have heard of people installing a rear trac bar along with a heavy duty rear stabilizer bar which end up mechanically conflicting with eachother.  But I never heard of this particular interference.

Contact the trac bar supplier.  Maybe you need a different bracket in your mounting kit which is sometimes the case.  The supplier will most often supply and ship "the magic part" free of charge.

I'd like to hear how your story concludes.  Good Luck!

I had a Blue Ox Tiger Trac in stalled on our 2008 2350 E350.  I took it to a very experienced frame shop and they had some problems getting it installed.  At one point they called and said they could not do the job (driver's side frame mount would not fit).  I contacted Blue Ox support and explained the problem.  Blue had the engineer that designed the Trac bar call the frame shop and walked them through the installation.  I do not know exactly what the problem was but the frame shop was able to easily finish the installation within an half hour after they got off the phone.

Customer Support Number 1-800-228-9289

My installation was on a E350 and used a Tiger Trac part number 2402.  The E450 should use part number 2450.  

Barry

Thanks for the feedback gents!  I do have the 2450 model number.  I will call Blue Ox and see what is up so that I can then tell the suspension experts that i am going to take the coach to what is up....I personnally do not have the patience or time to tackle the job again myself

I too had some head scratching when mounting the blue ox on my 2012 2350.  The Driver Side yes is a head scratch-er for sure.  But after removing some precious hair (I cannot afford to loose much), the print did kind of make enough sense to allow me to get it mounted properly.

I can take a pic and post it here if that would help on your rig.

Denny

We had Roadmaster front and rear anti-sway bars installed on our E-450 (2552).  We also had a Super Steer Rear Trac bar installed at the same time.  The Company is Hendersons' Line-up in Grants Pass, Oregon.  They had no problem with the installation, but this is their business, so they probably know ways around your situation.  The instructions that came with the Trac Bar does specifically address the proper installation of the drivers side bracket with special attention given to wire harnesses, fuel lines and bolt installation.  I do not know if they can help you, but their phone number is 1-888-898-3281.   Bob

Folks:

I did get a quick repsonse from Blue Ox and they wouldlike photos of the frame rail and harness's that are in the way.  Not sure when I will get that accomplished since like most we are about to get 3-4 inches of rain here in costal NH!!  There are several trac bar offerings such as Hendersen, etc. but they are all exactly the same in design and engineering.  I am sure the pros can get this bracket on but  it is just to close working conditions for me.   Thanks

I spent another 1/2 hour this weekend  attempting to make the large frame bracket fit where it was suppose to fit on my 3100, I just did not like the close quarters the bracket had with the three large wire harness's that had no play to give.  Over time I could see possible issues with everything rubbing, etc.  I packaged the bar up and off it has gone back to Amazon.  While I know Blue Ox is a good company I really think there is a diffenrt way to engineer this suspension piece but they sure appear to have a corner on the market since Hendersen's, etc all use the same set up.  That is life!    Thanks